As this election is on its last stretch, both candidates are finding out that focusing on the right groups of people to maximize your voters is more important than ever. Since the beginning of this cycle, the african american population has been a major force in deciding who takes the white house, and you can see how both candidates are changing their rhetoric (even if just by a little bit) to reel in more black votes. Now it’s no secret that Hillary has far more support from the black community than Donald does, but there is still a huge percentage of that population that is either undecided, or doesn’t like Clinton. She has realized this, and has been changing her message in the past couple of weeks to better connect and explain her interest in the Black community. In the past, many voters felt as though she “lacked a grasp of the issues” arising from major protesting in cities such as Baltimore or Ferguson, but has since then altered her rhetoric in her speeches to better exude a more involved and concerned presence.

 

 

Many young black voters have noticed this change in Clinton, after listening to her months before. “There was no platform the first time,” said 31 year old DeRay Mckesson.“There is a platform now. I reflected on the things I’ve heard her say, commit to and seen in writing, and that’s how I came to my decision.” Others are saying the same, describing her speeches as being well versed in the issues that really matter to African Americans. I think that her working together with movements such as Black Lives Matter and similar groups has really pushed her message of action and not just all talk like she has been for many years involving the black community. A lot of people are starting to see her rhetoric be backed up in real life and they like it much more than the way Trump is connecting with them.

 

 

In these three presidential debates, Hillary Clinton had a common goal of appearing presidential by presenting a calm demeanor and seeming more loving toward america as a whole, compared to trump. During the first presidential debate, she used a very effective form of rhetoric to take a shot a trump’s view of our country and specifically our black neighborhoods. Since the start of his campaign he has criticized and taken a very negative view of minority and black communities in our country, sometimes attacking their culture as the reason for the violence. Hillary says otherwise saying that trump “paints such a dire negative picture of black communities in our country,”. She also goes on to express the fact that she sees a lot to be “proud of”  in those same communities for what they are doing to create opportunities for their children. Some could view this rhetoric as Hillary just being nice and defending that voter population, but I also see it as a very subtle form of an enthymeme as well without directly referencing what trump said. By taking a different path in talking about these people and the way that they live, she is somewhat making trump look like he doesn’t respect blacks/minorities. This only fuels the fire in the argument that he is a “racist” and she comes out at respectable in her views of the american people. I can’t say if this will work in making her look presidential, as there is the other group that might see her as not pressing the racial issue in the US enough. Even with his strong statements, Trump definitely appeals to those people ase he views this as one of his top priorities.

 

Though it has been brought up many times during this race, Hillary Clinton reiterated a prominent racial issue with Donald Trump’s past as a businessman once again in the 1st presidential debate. As most people know, back in the 1970s when Trump was running housing developments in New York, Donald was sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination because he wouldn’t rent his apartments in one of his developments to African Americans.

“He made sure that the people who worked for him understood that was the policy,” Clinton said Monday night. Him and his father tried to fight the allegations and even tried to counter sue the department on accounts of false statements, a counter sue that topped $100 million. “It was a suit that was directly against them, and it is one that Donald Trump to this day clearly is upset about.” said Michael Kranish of the Washington post, and he is right. Mr. Trump is constantly having to defend himself from this issue, but it is brought up just about every time his “racist” demeanor is talked about. To be fair to Trump, they did end up settling the suit without paying out a dime, but Clinton’s rhetoric that he is a racist perfectly lines up with this story, so why wouldn’t she talk about it more. She is very effective at driving this message into the public’s view of Trump, and it is just another one of her rhetorical tools against trump that we are sure to keep on seeing.

Earlier this year in February, Hillary Clinton revealed another one of her goals if she is elected president of the United States. Speaking to a group of African-Americans in Harlem, New York City, she spoke of finally putting up a fight that will hopefully end racial issues and inequalities in our great nation. She feels that even after 50 years of having the civil rights act in place, race “still plays a significant role in determining who gets ahead in America and who gets left behind.” She plans on passing a $20 Billion plan to create jobs for youth minority and going with a criminal justice reform plan that will be “end-to-end”.Having shown a history of fighting against race inequality  does make her plans seem honest and she had also said that these kind of actions to combat racism has been her “north star” since her early days as an attorney.

I am not sure if I, or the american people, can believe that she will actually follow through with all of her plans for the white house, but I must say I am confident she will do a lot for minorities in our nation if elected. “We have to demonstrate a sustained commitment to building opportunity, creating prosperity and writing wrongs, not just every two or four years, not just when the cameras are on and people are watching but every single day,” she expressed that same day in harlem. When she makes comments like that it’s hard to think that she doesn’t have a heart for the many racial problems millions of Americans face every day.

 

I must admit, I did not start agreeing with many of Clinton’s policies until my party blew most of them out of proportion under Trumps campaign. I believe that a large portion of American voters would agree with me, and that in the past few weeks, we have seen what a Trump presidency would really look like.  Clinton is not at the top of my list of presidential candidates I would vote for, but she is our best realistic option. Like I said earlier, I do agree with her on some issues such as Environmental, Education and most importantly Civil Liberties and I learned this during the first presidential debate.

We need a leader who will fight against systemic racism in our nation, because if we do not we will only polarize our citizens even more to pick a side which will divide us to a point I don’t want to witness. As president, Clinton has stated that she will lead this fight. “We’re going to enforce the law, we’re going to change policing practices, we’re going to change incarceration practices, but we’re also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing.” Clinton stated during the Feb. 11th Primary debate. She reiterates this in the first general election debate as well, showing her interest in not only helping the convicted, but the police force as well, mainly to reduce the amount of officer racial bias in our communities. Overall, I would say her plan is much more thought out than Trump’s “Law and Order” style of government.

It’s no secret that most U.S. Politicians have a history of changing their stance on issues as they progress throughout their career. It’s also is no surprise that Hillary Clinton is a part of this group of political butterflies, as she too has shed her cocoon to a life of new values. Unfortunately for her, in today’s technology driven world anyone can see how she has shifted her views over time just by going on the internet, and one of the issues they might find with her current rhetoric is her stance on race has changed quite a bit.

In today’s campaign she is effectively pushes a narrative that we need to fight against racism and racial injustice. There is no arguing against that, and she has made it clear that she won’t tolerate “Racists” like Donald Trump is painted to be after his stance against illegal immigrants. The only issue with calling him a racist, is that she is in turn calling herself a hypocrite.

Back in 1996 while her husband was the current president, Hillary Clinton supported and lobbied for a method of enforcement best described as “Tough on Crime”, which today is widely known by both parties to have been a terrible set of bills to have passed. This bill along with others supported and passed by the Clintons (3 Strikes Bill, $30 Billion Crime Bill, $16 Billion for Prisons and Police Expansion) are what have heavily pulled back the black and minority communities in their attempt to escape poverty and crime. The logic behind her support of these bills? She viewed and expressed  African American youth associated with gangs as “Super-Predators” who need to be “Brought to Heel“. This harsh statement against American citizens not only paints a bad image of the black community, but also isn’t helping the problem of the crime only enforcing it.

During a Clinton fundraiser, a protester stands in front of supporters with a sign to remind them of the incident

Now, I think it is a fair argument to say that Mr. Trump’s statements were perhaps too strong against Mexicans, but what Hillary said back in 1996 as First Lady is probably much more offensive and racist.